


Revolt of the Strays

by Darkrealmist



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Absurd, Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alien Biology, Alien Invasion, Alien Technology, Aliens, Alliances, Alliteration, Ambition, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Anarchy, Ancient Egyptian Literature & Mythology, Animal Attack, Animalistic, Animals, Apocalypse, Armageddon, Armor, Army, Ascension, Assassination, Assassination Plot(s), Autumn, Bad Ending, Battle, Betrayal, Biological Warfare, Biological Weapons, Canon Backstory, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Card Games, Cats, Caught, Chaos, Character Death, Children, Cities, Collateral Damage, Comedy, Compare and Contrast, Complete, Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theories, Corpses, Covert Operation, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Crazy, Creature Fic, Criminal Masterminds, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cruelty, Dark Magic, Dead People, Death, Despair, Destruction, Dimension Travel, Disasters, Discrimination, Disobeying Orders, Double Entendre, Doubt, Dragons, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Duelling, During Canon, Emotional Manipulation, End of the World, Enemies, Evil, Evil Plans, Execution, Existential Crisis, Experimentation, Explosions, Fanfiction, Fanservice, Fantasy, Fear, Fear of Death, Female Antagonist, Feral Behavior, Ficlet, Fights, Financial Issues, Fire, Fruit, Fun, Funny, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Genetically Engineered Beings, Genetics, Geniuses, Genocide, God Complex, Gods, Government, Healing, Horror, Hubris, Human Biology, Humor, Implied/Referenced Character Death, In-Jokes, Infiltration, Injury, Injury Recovery, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Music, Inspired by a Trailer, Insults, Intimidation, Intrigue, Irony, Killing, Law Enforcement, Leadership, Licking, Loss of Control, Loss of Powers, Machines, Mad Science, Mad Scientists, Magic, Magic and Science, Magic-Users, Magical Artifacts, Male Antagonist, Male Protagonist, Manipulation, Master/Slave, Mayhem, Medicine, Military, Military Ranks, Military Science Fiction, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Character Death, Minor Character(s), Missions, Money, Monsters, Mummies, Murder, Mutants, Narcissism, Necromancy, Nervousness, Oblivious, Obsessive Behavior, Omnipotence, One Shot, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, POV Male Character, Pain, Panic, Parallel Universes, Parody, Pets, Police, Political Alliances, Politics, Portals, Poverty, Power Dynamics, Power Play, Pride, Psychological Warfare, Public Humiliation, Puns & Word Play, Puppeteer, Puppets, Rare Characters, Ravnica, Realization, Recruitment, References to Canon, Reminiscing, Resurrection, Rituals, Rumors, Saving the World, Scheming, Science, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Secrets, Shock, Short, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Showing Off, Side Story, Social Commentary, Social Issues, Soldiers, Song Lyrics, Sorcerers, Sorceresses, Souls, Spells & Enchantments, Strategy & Tactics, Strong Female Characters, Suffering, Supernatural Elements, Surprises, Surveillance, Survival, Survival Horror, Suspicions, Swarm, Swords, Team, Team Up, Technology, Tension, Theft, Treachery, Undead, Unethical Experimentation, Unhappy Ending, Urban Fantasy, Vanity, Villains, Violence, War, Watching, Weapons, Witchcraft, Witches, Wizards, Wolves, Women In Power, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Wordcount: 500-1.000, Wordcount: Under 10.000, World Domination, Worry, Worship, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 12:53:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19199227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkrealmist/pseuds/Darkrealmist
Summary: Nicol Bolas’ Dreadhorde marches on Ravnica, but Janoc, a tinker making a modest living on Tin Street, uncovers a perhaps more sinister plot.





	Revolt of the Strays

Revolt of the Strays

Author’s Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of Magic: The Gathering.

Card Reference: <http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=460935>

Summary:

Nicol Bolas’ Dreadhorde marches on Ravnica, but Janoc, a tinker making a modest living on Tin Street, uncovers a perhaps more sinister plot.

* * *

Ravnica burned in anarchy. Spires aflame. Citizens screaming. Strangely attired visitors assassinated in broad daylight by even stranger undead soldiers unlike any Golgari shamblers Janoc had ever encountered. Plated in a blue, metallic mineral and bronze mail, which attracted Janoc’s eye. Wispy trails of energy flew round the city’s ruined structures, vacuumed toward the dark sun perched above the imperious citadel that appeared over the rubble where the Chamber of the Guildpact last stood.

None Janoc spoke to knew whence the fatigueless army came. Another plane of reality beyond the stars, rumour held. An unthinkable concept. A shimmer of impossibility. Whoever these invaders were, they represented Ravnica’s hour of devastation, and conducted their mission with cold, cunning efficiency.

What irony. The guilds claiming dominion over the world, often bogged down in petty, self-interested squabbles, banding together to fight a common foe.

Undoubtedly, the amassing terrors served the monstrous dragon reigning tall against the eclipsed sky, vainer and more ostentatious than the great dracowizard Niv-Mizzet himself.

A Gateless tinker by trade, Janoc wanted to contribute. He professed no official affiliation to any of the guilds, yet the crescendo of war gave him ample moment to shine. Until recent events, parents cautioned children not to get too close to Janoc, a much-scoffed-at conspiracy peddler, assembling trinkets behind the Tin Street melon carts. Now, Boros swiftblades and legionnaires poured into the Tenth District, asking him to supply weapons.

Since the killing machines arrived, Janoc suspected an eviler intellect at work. No, not the interplanar conqueror. Certainly, the marauding crops slaughtered victims mercilessly, harvesting what could only be construed as souls for their cruel master. But that was the perfect distraction.

Residents didn’t notice because a death squad of magically enhanced initiates is pretty hard to ignore.

Janoc, however, did.

“There’s something peculiar about the cats today.”

Feline slits leered at him. Gutters, lintels, sills. Strays everywhere! Unimpressed by murder and mayhem. Measly concerns of measly folk, fleeing the scorn of a dragon-god, measlier still.

Pure violence exploded outside a precinct-dividing tollbooth. Janoc’s furry, undesired sentinels licked their claws, unmoved.

Up the avenue, a battalion had constructed a blockade. Improbable the wall would endure further punishment, from the looks of it. Back a distance, a woman gestured, laggardly guiding the actions of the horde.

Outliers populated the attackers’ discernibly once-human ranks. Bipedal forms incorporating animal characteristics, comparable only to experimental subjects of the Simic.

Among those creatures strutted a lone kitten, menacingly serrulate and blue like its rampaging allies.

A zombie cat? This tyrant was nothing if not outrageously self-aware in his villainy.

The witch commanding the abominations advanced her troops. They devoutly followed her orders, with the exception of the Dreadmalkin. It heard her mandate, disdainfully flicked its armoured paw, and scampered across the rooftops.

Insubordinate, it betrayed its mistress to mingle with the local alley kitties, meowing malevolent machinations in Janoc’s ear.

The cats! The cats were taking over!

Ravnicans were so busy combatting the enemy on their doorstep, they dismissed the second invasion occurring right under their noses.

 _I must warn them! I must warn the people!_ Janoc thought.

A wounded Ledev Guardian and his wolf staggered to Janoc’s stand seeking a Wojek teardrop.

Displeased purrs incapacitated him before he could tell the elf what he’d learned.

Who’d believe him anyway?


End file.
